Green and Blue Infrastructure for Climate Adaptation and Health Equity: Mobility, Exposure, and Socio–Ecological Resilience

Climate change, extreme heat, and growing environmental instability are intensifying public health risks across diverse populations. In this context, Nature-based Solutions (NbS)—defined as actions that protect, restore, or sustainably manage natural and semi-natural ecosystems to address societal challenges while generating environmental, social, and health co-benefits—have become increasingly relevant to climate adaptation and public health practice. Urban green and blue infrastructure, as the most widely implemented forms of NbS, include urban forests, street trees, parks, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and ecological corridors. These systems deliver a wide range of health-promoting ecosystem services, such as heat mitigation, improved air quality, stormwater regulation, enhanced physical activity, psychological restoration, and strengthened socio–ecological resilience. However, the health benefits of green-blue infrastructure are not distributed equally. Environmental exposure and restorative opportunities are strongly shaped not only by spatial patterns of green provision but also by mobility-related factors—including travel behaviour, transportation choices, daily activity patterns, accessibility constraints, and social vulnerabilities. These behavioural and mobility dimensions determine whether individuals can meaningfully interact with restorative environments, even when green-blue spaces are physically close. Such disparities undermine socio–ecological resilience, exacerbate environmental injustice, and reinforce health inequities under climate stress. Therefore, it is essential to understand how environmental exposure pathways and human mobility patterns shape the health impacts of green-blue infrastructure, and how carefully designed, community-oriented NbS strategies can support equitable and health-promoting climate adaptation. This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how green-blue infrastructure contributes to climate adaptation, public health, and socio-ecological resilience, with a particular focus on the environmental exposure pathways and mobility patterns that shape real opportunities to benefit from nature. We seek to explore how travel behaviour, daily activity, and accessibility influence contact with restorative environments, how social and spatial inequalities in these exposures affect health equity, and how well-designed, community-oriented NbS can support more equitable and health-promoting climate adaptation strategies. We welcome empirical studies, modelling approaches, methodological innovations, and reviews from public health, environmental sciences, mobility research, and related disciplines. We invite empirical, modeling, and review contributions that investigate mechanisms linking green infrastructure, ecosystem services, and human health—especially those addressing health equity in diverse climatic, cultural, and socio-demographic contexts.Climate-Responsive Green and Blue Infrastructure for Public Health and Socio-Ecological Resilience:• Design, planning, governance, and multifunctionality of green-blue infrastructure in climate adaptation. • Quantify the health-promoting ecosystem services provided by green-blue infrastructure (such as mitigating heat stress and improving air quality). • Evidence-based and performance-oriented approaches to enhancing climate-health resilience through blue-green systems. Exposure Pathways and Health Outcomes in Human-Environment Interaction:• Mechanisms through which exposure to green-blue spaces influences physical, mental, and social health. • Effects of travel behaviour, transportation modes, daily activity-travel patterns, and time-space constraints on exposure to blue-green environments. • Spatiotemporal modelling of environmental exposure incorporating mobility data, activity-space approaches, GPS tracking, and behavioural adaptation to climate stress. Green Exposure, Health, and Environmental Justice:• Mapping spatial and social disparities in access to green-blue infrastructures, environmental exposure, and associated health outcomes. • Identifying how daily activity-travel patterns and mobility constraints shape or exacerbate inequities in exposure to green-blue health benefits. • Examining interactions among green-blue infrastructure inequality, health inequity, and socio-demographic vulnerability. Topic editors: Jie Chen, Yuxiao Jiang, Jixiang Liu, Chen Liang, Ruoyu Wang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76057/green-and-blue-infrastructure-for-climate-adaptation-and-health-equity-mobility-exposure-and-socio-ecological-resilience